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Regatta
Regatta (also known as 4th of July) was the twelfth episode of TUGS. Plot On the day before the Regatta, Ten Cents and Sunshine take fuel to Lillie Lightship and they tell her about the Regatta. Lillie feels very left out as she's anchored in the bay outside Bigg City Port, and won't be able to see any of it. Ten Cents jokingly suggests that they could fit a light and foghorn to Sunshine, so that Lillie could come and see it. That night, the fog comes down; and whilst she was thinking about the Regatta, Lillie hears a tramp steamer coming towards her very fast. She tries to warn the tramp steamer about the nearby rocks with her foghorn, but to no avail. Then suddenly, the tramp steamer comes out of the fog, strikes Lillie at her port side, and carries on towards the rocks. Too late, the tramp steamer crashes into the rocks, slips backwards and sinks rapidly. But Lillie is now in trouble. With a huge hole on her port side close to her bow, water gets into her power room, knocking her light out of action! By morning, Lillie is slowly sinking and still waiting for help - until Grampus surfaces. Grampus decides, rather than towing Lillie in to Bigg City Port, to use his face to plug the hole so that he can keep Lillie afloat until real help comes! Fortunately, a small fishing boat sees the situation and heads for Bigg City Port to inform the Coastguard. At the Star Dock, everyone is getting excited about the Regatta until the Coastguard Messenger arrives and tells them about Lillie sinking. Captain Star tells O.J. to collect Might Moe and Ten Cents to collect a timber barge. Now, the Star Tugs will have to forget about the Regatta for a while, much to the annoyance of Top Hat. Ten Cents arrives at Lucky's Yard to collect a timber barge, only to discover that Zorran, Zip and Zug are there and need a timber barge as well. Ten Cents takes the only timber barge available anyway, and sets off to the rescue. At the rescue scene, Ten Cents can't believe his eyes when he discovers Grampus stuck in Lillie's hole. Mighty Moe, on Lillie's starboard side, lifts Lillie whilst Ten Cents pulls Grampus out of the hole. As Lillie has a huge hole, they must take her to Lucky's Yard. Ten Cents tows Mighty Moe, still attached to Lillie and O.J. puts on a bow line (presumably to the timber barge on Lille's port side). Back in Bigg City, Warrior arrives at the Garbage Dump with Lord Stinker. But Jack the Grappler tells Warrior that there isn't any garbage at all, so too does the Garbage Master. After they convince Warrior about "no garbage", the Garbage Master explains that they are going to make Lord Stinker their float for the Regatta, using very colorful garbage! After taking Lillie to Lucky's Yard, Ten Cents goes to work with Big Mac. But, they get an unexpected visit from Bluenose, who is looking for Grampus. Grampus arrives and tells Ten Cents and Big Mac, that at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, he's going to be blown up by the Navy! Bluenose goes on to explain that, instead of Grampus rotting away in a breaker's yard, they want to use him as one of their target practises. But, Ten Cents objects, considering Grampus is still very useful for them. However for the Navy, Grampus is old and out of date! As soon as Bluenose takes Grampus out towards the open sea, Big Mac tells Ten Cents to tell O.J. about the Navy's plan. Quickly as he could, Ten Cents arrives at the Star Dock and tells O.J. about Grampus' fate. O.J. makes a plan and sends Ten Cents to Lucky's Yard, and tells Top Hat to help as well. But, Top Hat finds the rescue of both Lillie and Grampus as a distraction, all because he's leading the Regatta this year! Ten Cents goes to Lucky's Yard and Zorran, Zip and Zug are still there! Ten Cents tells them that they need the log barge, but Zorran tells Ten Cents if he takes it, he'll report a second theft by Ten Cents to Captain Zero. But, Ten Cents takes no notice and takes the log barge. Back at the Star Dock, O.J. explains his plan to rescue Grampus to Big Mac, Top Hat and Sunshine. But, Top Hat is still moaning that he'll miss the Regatta. Soon, Ten Cents turns up, and once they attach a white target flag at each end of the log barge, Ten Cents, Big Mac, O.J. and Top Hat set off to the rescue. Out at sea, Bluenose tells Grampus (with white target flags on him) that he's being a very good submarine and the Navy has got no further use for him, which Grampus agrees to. As soon as Bluenose gets clear of the target practises, Grampus sees the Star Tugs coming towards him and tells them to stay clear. Top Hat gets a panic attack about being in the danger zone, but O.J. and Big Mac tell him to keep moving. Quickly, Ten Cents gets a stern line onto Grampus and Big Mac cuts his stern line from the log barge, carrying the white target flags. As soon as the Star Tugs and Grampus clear away, the Navy start firing at the log barge which gets totally destroyed! As soon as the Star Tugs get back to Bigg City Port, Zorran and the Zero switchers turn up, looking for their timber barge; the timber barges that Ten Cents took were going to be for the Regatta. Zorran has a look around the Star Tugs and discovers Grampus; then he jumps to the conclusion that the Star Tugs are stealing government property - until Hercules turns up and tells Zorran to move off. Zorran, knowing that he can't fool Hercules, does move off - and so too does a very impatient Top Hat! Hercules tells his colleagues that they can tell him about their rescue later, and is curious to know where Warrior is! At the Garbage Dump, the Garbage Master checks Lord Stinker and Jack before Warrior joins the Regatta. Warrior jokes about the colourful garbage, but Lord Stinker makes a nice comment on the banner above him. Once Warrior leaves, Jack is very happy with his work. At last, the Regatta is ready! The Princess Alice is the commentator, and as soon as the cannon fires, the parade begins. Top Hat leads off, with O.J., Big Mac and Warrior following him. Then, Zak comes into view towing a light barge, with Zip and Zug bring up the rear towing a new up-river breakfast - wood and bananas. Then, Ten Cents towing Little Ditcher and Sunshine towing Sally Seaplane come into view, with Hercules following just behind them. Lastly, Zorran turns up towing the musical barge with music from the famous Bridge Cafe Band. After the parade, the Princess Alice announces that all the tugs have won a prize! That night, O.J. gathers all the other Star Tugs outside Lucky's Yard. The lights turn on and on the quayside, is Lillie Lightship, repaired and floating again. Lillie is very happy to see the Regatta for herself. Suddenly, Grampus surfaces carrying the Star flag, much to the surprise of Ten Cents. Grampus tells the Starr switchers that the Navy sold him to Captain Star, so he's in the Star Fleet now - and Ten Cents and Sunshine blow their hooters happily, and welcome Grampus as the new recruit! Characters *Captain Star *Ten Cents *Big Mac *OJ *Top Hat *Warrior *Hercules *Sunshine *Grampus *Zorran *Zebedee (cameo) *Zak (non-speaking role) *Zug *Zip *Bluenose (Minor role) *Izzy Gomez (Cameo) *Big Mickey (Cameo) *Lillie Lightship *Lord Stinker *Princess Alice *Little Ditcher (non-speaking role) *Sally Seaplane (non-speaking role) *Fire Tug (Cameo) *Fultan Ferry (Cameo) *Coast Guard (Cameo) *Jack the Grappler *Mighty Moe *Coast Guard's Messenger *The Garbage Master Trivia *We see the second and last of two appearances of the Coast Guard's Messenger in this episode (he appeared as the 'mad speedboat' who causes O.J. to collide with The Fultan Ferry in "Quarantine"). *This is the first appearance of Bluenose & The Garbage Master. *This episode features more characters than any other TUGS episode. *Big Mickey appears to be loading the Princess Alice whilst the regatta goes on, showing that she had been fully fixed after being brought in for repairs during "High Winds". *Bigg City's set in 1920's America, when Sally Seaplane is seen with an American Flag and Jack The Grappler has a Uncle Sam-like hat on. *The "Blinded Tramp Steamer" which hits Lillie is Johnny Cuba without a face or hat. *Jack the Grappler's only major speaking appearance. *This is the last appearance of Sally Seaplane, Little Ditcher, Fultan Ferry & Mighty Moe. *Look closely at the flags on the log barge that replaces Grampus: they say "Clearwater Features", which produced TUGS. *This episode. has a slightly extended version of the rescue of Grampus; not only does the navy ship speak, but Top Hat complains. *The Navy Ship has a voice that warns the Tugs to clear off. *When Zorran comes through during the parade with the Brass Band, the band plays for the rest of the parade scenes rather than the parade music resuming as in the VHS Version. Not to mention that the closing scene for the parade in the televised version uses stock footage from "Sunshine" when the tugs dock the Duchess and have a party with fireworks.